"AI agent" is one of those terms that's everywhere right now, and it's thrown around loosely enough that the line between "agent" and "chatbot" often gets blurry — even in places where the distinction actually matters.
There's a real, useful difference between the two, and once you have a clear mental model for it, a lot of related concepts (context windows, tool use, "compaction") make a lot more sense. Here's the breakdown, anime-style. 🍥
A Chatbot: The Conversation Partner
Think of a chatbot like a really knowledgeable friend you're chatting with. You ask a question, they respond. You ask a follow-up, they respond to that too, using what was said earlier in the conversation.
You: What's a good Swift function for summing numbers in an array?
